Tiger Woods has won the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Programme (PIP) for 2022 despite having played just nine events during the season.

Woods won $15m for topping the list, which is designed to reward players who boosted engagement and publicity for the PGA Tour.

First introduced in 2021 as a means of offering extra cash to the game’s most influential players, five of the players who appeared in the top 10 of the PIP last year – Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bubba Watson – have left to join LIV Golf.

While last year’s PIP bonus pool offered $40 million to the top 10 players, the 2022 PIP pool has increased to $100m and has doubled its reach from 10 players to 20.

The tour used five measurements for putting together the list: internet searches, the number of unique news articles that include a player’s name, duration that a player’s sponsor logos appeared on screen during Saturday and Sunday PGA Tour TV broadcasts, a player’s general awareness score among the US population, and social media score that considers a player’s reach, conversation and engagement metrics.

Rory McIlroy, who won the FedExCup, took second place, which comes with a $12m pay out, while Jordan Spieth took third, which comes with a $9m bonus. Victor Hovland finished in 20th spot and earned himself an extra $2m on top of the $4.68m he earned in prize money for the 2021-22 season.

Rickie Fowler, who placed 16th in the PIP list, had just three top-25 finishes in the 2021-22 season and finished 133rd in the money list with just over $1m in prize money, but he trebled his earnings with a $2m PIP pay out thanks to his popularity on social media. His Twitter account boasts over 1.6m followers.

Reigning US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick boosted his season’s earnings of $7.5m with a $5m bonus for finishing in eighth place, while 2019 Open Championship winner Shane Lowry finished 12th in the PIP list and almost doubled his season’s earnings from the PGA Tour with a $3m bonus on top of the $3.6m he collected in prize money.

Making the top 20 in this year’s PIP list will have major ramifications for those players in 2023, as the PGA Tour’s new schedule of 12 elevated events will require top-20 PIP players to compete in at least 20 tournaments across the season.

PGA TOUR 2022 PIP winners

1. Tiger Woods $15m
2. Rory McIlroy $12m
3. Jordan Spieth $9m
4. Justin Thomas $7.5m
5. Jon Rahm $6m
6. Scottie Scheffler $5.5m
7. Xander Schauffele $5m
8. Matt Fitzpatrick $5m
9. Will Zalatoris $5m
10. Tony Finau $5m
11. Collin Morikawa $3m
12. Shane Lowry $3m
13. Kevin Kisner $3m
14. Max Homa $3m
15. Billy Horschel $3m
16. Rickie Fowler $2m
17. Adam Scott $2m
18. Jason Day $2m
19. Patrick Cantlay $2m
20. Viktor Hovland $2m

Although outside the top 20, Hideki Matsuyama, Cameron Young and Sam Burns will also will receive a $2 million payment and be eligible for PIP events in 2023.

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